Daily Mail

BERAHINO FACES FINE FOR THREAT TO STRIKE

West Brom forward in row with chairman who rejects £25m Spurs bid

- By LAURIE WHITWELL and SAMI MOKBEL

SAIDO BERAHINO faces a substantia­l fine from West Bromwich Albion after tweeting that he would never again play for chairman Jeremy Peace. The England Under 21 striker was furious at being denied a move to Tottenham, who had two bids up to £25million rejected yesterday — having previously had two other offers for the 22-year-old turned down. Peace said he was angered by Berahino’s public attack but also annoyed at Tottenham’s tactics. He said: ‘We have a key player unsettled by antics which were designed to get him out of our club cheaply. ‘Our head coach Tony Pulis has not felt able to select him and we are left to repair the damage.’

Saido Berahino threw his career into doubt last night after finally losing patience with Jeremy Peace’s refusal to sell him.

The england Under 21 striker vowed to never again play for the West Bromwich albion chairman in an explosive tweet moments after a fourth and final bid from Tottenham hotspur worth a potential £25million was rejected.

Berahino posted an hour before the transfer deadline: ‘ Sad how i can’t say exactly how the club has treated me but i can officially say i will never play (for) Jeremy Peace.’

The post was the culminatio­n of weeks of frustratio­n for the 22-yearold over West Brom’s refusal to sanction his switch to Tottenham.

Peace, who is furious at his player for the public attack, dismissed the last- ditch approach by Spurs chairman daniel Levy, viewing the structure of the bids as derisory.

Sportsmail understand­s Spurs offered £5m up front with the full payment being transferre­d over five years, some money subject to clauses being met, plus defender Federico Fazio and winger andros Townsend as part of any deal. But the London club insist their final offer was the whole £25m in cash.

Peace has steadfastl­y insisted Berahino would not be sold and issued a statement last week outlining as much.

Berahino, who has been left out of three successive squads, is set to receive a substantia­l fine for his message and further punishment should he enact his refusal to play,

Manager Tony Pulis is said to be livid at being left with a player who does not want to play for the club. Peace admitted it would require much work to repair the damaged relationsh­ip between player and club. ‘We have a key player who has been very unsettled by antics which were designed to get him out of our club cheaply,’ said Peace.

‘Those tactics have continued despite my making our position clear in my first conversati­on with daniel Levy in mid-august. i said selling Saido so late in the window was not on our agenda.

‘ Tottenham’s offers failed to reflect Saido’s true value while the timing made no allowance for our own recruitmen­t of a suitable replacemen­t for a proven Premier League goalscorer.

‘Saido has been unsettled to the point where our head coach has not felt able to select him. We are left with the task of repairing the damage.’

even prior to handing in a transfer request last week, Berahino had made it clear that he wanted to leave for north London.

he was angered by the club’s decision to reject Spurs’ first offer of £18m. he was livid when a second offer of £21m was turned down last week. his anger boiled over yesterday after Spurs were twice denied in quick succession. Berahino faces an uncomforta­ble future following his threat to never play for Peace again, with the Profession­al Footballer­s associatio­n set to be intervene to help settle the dispute.

 ??  ?? Refusing to play: Saido Berahino
Refusing to play: Saido Berahino

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